IRANIAN
WOMEN STILL SUFFER
According
to the decision taken by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance
and Culture on January 28, 2008 a woman magazine called
“Zanan”, which was published for approximately 15 years, was
closed. According to the statement made by the Ministry of
Islamic Guidance and Culture, the magazine was closed based
on the following grounds: publishing news which negatively
affects the image of the Forces of Basij that ensures the
security in Iran; setting morally bad examples for women;
using a provocative style.
While the
conservative milieu is satisfied with this decision, the
reformists stated that the above-mentioned magazine was
closed because of: publishing the incidents that took place
in the protest rallies which were defending women rights in
2007, and deciphering the identity of the security forces
that resorted to violence.
According
to the experts, the closing down of Zanan magazine is a
reflection of the pressures implemented upon women in Iran.
The political observers, who were pointing out to the dress
code operations that were carried out under the name of
“fight against the ones who does not dress according to the
Islamic law” for some time in the country, reminded that
more than ten thousand women were taken under custody only
in Tehran based on the grounds of acting against the Islamic
orders.
The experts
describe the statements of the Iranian Women Rights Defender
Gulberg Basi, who object to the oppressive policies against
women, “on abolishing the discriminatory laws against women
in the Iranian legal system and listening women about their
equality request” as: “the democratic expression of the
tragedy that the Iranian women are going through”.
The basic
requests of the Iranian women movement are as follows:
abolition of polygamy, equality of rights for women in the
divorce process, equality in the guardianship right of
children after divorce, equality in inheritance law, and
increase in the age of marriage of women to 18, equality in
witnessing in courts.
